MLB
Contract clause could earn Juan Soto another $40 million from world-record deal
The New York Mets have handed the 26-year-old the biggest contract in sports history. However, it could be worth even more than first thought.
The biggest saga of the MLB offseason was finally concluded on Sunday when Juan Soto put pen to paper on a world-record deal with the New York Mets. Soto had been the most highly-coveted free agent in the game after his previous deal with the New York Yankees expired at the end of the 2024 season and the Mets spent big to secure his talents.
The 26-year-old has agreed a $765 million, 15-year deal with the Yankee’s cross-city rivals. That deal eclipses the $700 million contract that the Los Angeles Dodgers gave to Shohei Ohtani last year.
Soto’s deal is the biggest in the history of sport but it could still get even bigger. The Athletic reports that Soto has an opt-out clause after five seasons, which the Mets can void by increasing the annual average value (AAV) of his deal from $51 million to $55 million over the remaining ten years. That would net him another $40 million, taking the contract’s total value to an eye-watering $805 million.
The contract is front-loaded, too, with a total of $305 million in payments lined up for the first five years. That includes a $75 million signing bonus, although he won’t necessarily receive all of that money up-front as the name suggests. Mookie Betts' deal with the LA Dodgers, for example, sees him receive an instalment of his $65 million signing bonus every November.
What is the biggest contract in sport?
As you might expect, the $765 million deal that brings Soto to the Mets is the largest contract in sports history. In terms of total value the only one that comes close is the $700 million deal Ohtani signed with the Dodgers.
Third in the all-time rankings is Lionel Messi’s now-infamous $674 million deal with Barcelona. However, that contract was only for four years meaning that the AAV for Messi was far higher than both Soto and Ohtani.
When Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr he signed a $536 million deal, lasting just two and a half years. The Al Nassr captain therefore earns $214.5 million per year.
Rounding out the top five, three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes has a ten-year, $450 million per year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. His annual earnings have since been eclipsed by the likes of Dak Prescott and Jared Goff but the total value of Mahomes' deal remains the biggest in NFL history.
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